Big Wave Surfer Sarah Gerhardt

Sarah Gerhardt is a women surfing in a man's world. Gerhardt has overcome obstacles in her life to be the person she is today. She is not looking for fame, fortune, or accolades for her surfing. Sarah just likes to surf the big waves. For those of us who hold humility, integrity, and gutsy determination at the heart of our value system, Gerhardt is the ultimate role model.

Sarah Gerhardt on Big-Wave Surfing in a Man's World

The first woman to ride Mavericks on her love-hate relationship to the sport, competing against other women, and why she never went pro

Sarah Gerhardt is not a professional surfer, but among big-wave riders she needs no introduction. In 1999, Gerhardt was the first woman to drop in at Mavericks, the monster break off the Northern California coast. Just a few weeks later, Quicksilver held the inaugural surf contest there, calling it "Men Who Ride Mountains.” In fact, no woman was invited until 2016, when the contest was forced to add a women's heat in order to receive a permit from the California Coastal Commission.

Being a pioneer in a male-dominated sport is never easy, but Gerhardt had a particularly challenging road. Growing up in San Luis Obispo, California, she and her sister cared for their mother, who suffered from severe muscular dystrophy, while their father was at sea for months at a time as a merchant marine. The family often struggled financially and she was bullied in school. But Gerhardt’s dad gave her a surfboard and wetsuit for her 13th birthday and she found refuge in the ocean. On a trip to Hawaii in college, she fell in with a crew of surfers that included big-wave icon Ken Bradshaw, and quickly found herself tackling bigger and bigger waves.